Noninvasive ventilation in postoperative care of lung transplant recipients

Noninvasive positive pressure ventilation (NIPPV), which provides consolidated treatment of both acute and chronic respiratory failure, is increasingly being used in the postoperative care of lung transplant patients. Graft- and patient-related respiratory insufficiency requiring mechanical ventilation are common features in the postoperative period; they may persist for hours to days. Prolonged intubation, particularly in these immunocompromised patients, has been considered one of the main predisposing factors for developing nosocomial pneumonia. It has been associated with increased length of intensive care unit (ICU) stay as well. Noninvasive mechanical ventilation is nowadays an attractive choice to shorten weaning time and avoid reintubation following lung transplantation. Rapid extubation plus prompt NIPPV application is a useful strategy for lung recipients who do not completely fulfill the criteria for safe extubation. Unloading respiratory muscles, decreasing respiratory rate and sensation of dyspnea, improving ventilation/perfusion abnormalities, decreasing the heart rate, and improving hemodynamics are among the recognized benefits. Adding a noninvasive inspiratory support plus positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) to lung transplant recipients has been helpful to prevent airway injury and infections, avoiding the need for reintubation in cases of extubation failure, facilitating nocturnal sedation, treating the post-reimplantation syndrome and postoperative phrenic nerve dysfunction, and preventing reintubation in cases of readmission to the ICU. In our practice, the helmet system has emerged as the preferred interface; in cases of dyshomogeneous dorsobasal lung infiltrates, it allows effective ventilatory support in the prone position as well.